You're in the Marching Band, Charlie Brown!
by Dirty Snoopy
Summary: Charlie Brown joins his school's marching band in hopes of impressing the Little Red Haired Girl. Many adventures follow for Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the gang. Just updated! Chapter 9 is up! More chapters on the way soon!
1. Chapter I

Disclaimer: Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the rest of the Peanuts characters are the creations of Charles Schulz and copyrighted by the United Feature Syndicate, INC.  
  
The idea for this story came from a conversation I had with some friends a while back. We were discussing if the Peanuts gang were to be in marching band, what instruments would they play. Enjoy!  
  
You're in the Marching Band, Charlie Brown – Chapter I  
  
Charlie Brown slumped in is desk chair as his teacher went on and on during another endless hour of math class. He looked out the window and wished he was outside playing baseball with his team. Out of boredom he looked at the clock for the hundredth time that day.  
  
"Good grief," He said. "Only 2:00! This day will never end."  
  
As he looked down from the clock his eyes fell on the Little Red Haired girl. Again he sighed and thought, "That Little Red Haired girl is the prettiest girl I've ever seen. I wish she would notice me. I wonder what I could do to get the Little Red Haired girl to notice me. What am I talking about? I'll never have a chance with the Little Red Haired girl. Never. A pretty girl like her would ever notice a dull, wishy-washy blockhead like me."  
  
Charlie Brown would have this same series of thoughts every day. And he still had not even brought himself to introduce himself to her. He paused for a moment to look at the clock.  
  
"Good grief. It's only 2:03. Even the clock is against me."  
  
Just then, Charlie Brown realized that his teacher was not in front of the class anymore. Instead, there was a man whom he had never seen before. He leaned forward to ask his best friend Linus about the visitor to their classroom.  
  
"Linus," He whispered, "Who is that man?"  
  
"That's Mr. Dunlap, Charlie Brown. He's the new band director at our school. He wants us all to join the marching band."  
  
Charlie Brown pondered for a moment. He never thought about playing an instrument before. He had always spent most of his time playing baseball or with his dog Snoopy. But then he thought, "Maybe if I join the band, I'll get to play a really neat instrument, and I'll impress the Little Red Haired girl! And then maybe she'll come up and talk to me! And then maybe I'll invite her to get a root beer float! And then maybe she'll say yes! And then...and then maybe....maybe I'll just sit in the corner of the band room banging my head against the wall."  
  
"Are you going to join the band, Charlie Brown?" Linus asked.  
  
"I don't know," Charlie Brown said reluctantly. "With my luck, I'll probably trip on a drumstick and end up falling into a pile of music stands."  
  
"Well if you're going to join," Linus continued, "You have to go to the band room after school and talk to Mr. Dunlap, and tell him what instrument you want to play. He says you have to get their early or else they may run out of the instrument that you want."  
  
"Good grief!" Thought Charlie Brown. Learning an instrument and joining the band seemed like a good initial idea. But Charlie Brown was never very sure about these things. Things had a way of going incredibly wrong for Charlie Brown. But, he thought, if joining the band would give him a chance to impress the Little Red Haired girl, then maybe it was worth a try after all.  
  
"Yes, I think I will." he thought to himself. "Now, what instrument should I play? It has to be something cool, so I can impress the Little Red Haired girl. How about a trombone? Or what about a drum? Or a saxophone, everybody likes saxophones. Or what about a clarinet? No, no one can ever hear those in the stands anyway. How about a trumpet? That's it! I'll play the trumpet!"  
  
By this time, the bell rang signaling that school was over for the day. Charlie Brown got up from his desk and walked out of the room smiling. He was proud that he was able to make such a big decision on his own.  
  
Upon entering the hallway, Charlie Brown could see a mob of kids heading towards the direction of the band room.  
  
"I'd better hurry up," he said to himself, "Or else I may not get the trumpet that I want."  
  
As he walked down the hallway, he passed the school cafeteria, and the vending machines caught his eye.  
  
"I could really go for a root beer right now." He thought, "But I am in a hurry, maybe I should wait until after I talk to Mr. Dunlap. On the other hand, I really want a root beer, and it will only take two seconds."  
  
So Charlie Brown went to the pop machine and put in some change. He pushed the button and out came an ice cold can of root beer. He reached into the slot in the machine to retrieve his drink. Unfortunately, as he did this, his hand became stuck in the pop machine and he could not get it out. He stood there for several minutes struggling but to no avail.  
  
"Good grief!" He said, "Why does this sort of thing always happen to me?"  
  
Just then he saw Linus passing by in the hallway. "Linus!" He shouted "Come help me get my hand out of the pop machine!"  
  
But Linus was in too much of a hurry to understand Charlie Brown's problem.  
  
"Hurry up Charlie Brown," he said excitedly. "Or you're going to miss getting a good instrument! All of the kids are joining. Hurry up!" With that, Linus was on his way and Charlie Brown was still stuck in the pop machine.  
  
"Maybe if I stay here long enough, the custodian will come by and help me get out. Maybe he will have to take the whole pop machine apart, and then they'll have to have it sent back to the factory to get it put back together. Then we won't have a pop machine in the cafeteria anymore and all the kids will be mad at me."  
  
Charlie Brown continued with great effort to free himself until Snoopy entered the room.  
  
"Snoopy! What are you doing here?" Charlie Brown said with surprise. "Nevermind that, help me get out of this."  
  
Snoopy looked at the situation. He then got on top of the pop machine and started jumping up and down trying to shake it. Then he got down beside the pop machine and began kicking it. Neither solution worked. Snoopy then put a quarter in the pop machine and pressed the button for another root beer. The new root beer can came out with such force that it knocked the other can, and Charlie Brown's hand loose from the vending machine.  
  
"Thank you Snoopy! You're the greatest!" Charlie Brown exclaimed, hugging the beagle. "I have to leave now, though. I'm in a hurry."  
  
Charlie Brown ran from the cafeteria, and headed towards the band room. Meanwhile Snoopy was left standing in the cafeteria and thought, "Good grief! What does a guy have to do to get a root beer around here?!?!"  
  
Charlie Brown entered the band room and saw a long line of students, and Mr. Dunlap handing out instruments to the students one at a time. Charlie Brown waited, for what seemed like hours. When he finally got to Mr. Dunlap, he realized he was the only student left.  
  
"Yes sir," He said to Mr. Dunlap, "I would like a trumpet. Oh? You're all out of trumpets? Ok then, how about a saxophone? Oh. You're all out of those too. Oh well, I'll take a drum then. What? No drums either? How about a trombone? No? Baritone? Bass? Clarinet? Flute? Cymbal? Triangle? Good grief. Well then, sir, what do you have left?"  
  
The answer both startled and confused Charlie Brown.  
  
"A mellophone?!?!?!" 


	2. Chapter II What in the World is a Mello...

Chapter II – What in the World is a Mellophone?!?!?!?  
  
Later that afternoon Charlie Brown returned home and entered his room. He put the new instrument case on his bed. He was almost afraid to open it.  
  
"Good grief." He said. "I've never heard of a mellophone, let alone seen one. How am I supposed to learn to play an instrument I've never even seen before."  
  
Slowly he opened up the case. Inside was a shiny, brand new silver Yamaha mellophone. Charlie Brown studied the instrument. There was nothing mellow looking about it. It looked a little like a trumpet, but it was a lot bigger. The bell was huge. Charlie Brown carefully took the instrument out of the case, raised the mouthpiece to his lips and attempted to make a sound. *BLAT!*  
  
"Good grief!" said Charlie Brown. He tried again. *BLAT!* "What have I gotten myself into this time?" He wondered.  
  
Just then, off in the distance Charlie Brown could hear trumpet music. Someone was playing jazz charts complete with screaming super C's. "What is going on?" Charlie Brown wondered, as he ran outside to investigate. "Who could that be?" Was it Maynard Furgeson? Was it Doc Severinson? No! It was Snoopy, of course, standing on top of his doghouse as he showed off with his brand new silver Bach Stradivarius trumpet.  
  
"Good grief!" said Charlie Brown.  
  
"You interrupted my solo!" thought Snoopy. "What you just did was just rude, rude, RUDE!"  
  
"Don't tell me you got the last trumpet?" Charlie Brown said with disbelief.  
  
Snoopy replied only with an innocent grin.  
  
"Well at least you got one. I got there late and ended up with a mellophone." Charlie Brown continued.  
  
"What in the world is a mellophone?" wondered Snoopy.  
  
"And why did Mr. Dunlap let you in the band? Doesn't he know that you're a dog?"  
  
Snoopy gave another innocent grin and began playing his horn again. He sounded like Wynton Marsalis as he continued his solo concert.  
  
"Well, I guess anyone who can play like THAT, should be in the band, even if they are a dog." reasoned Charlie Brown.  
  
Later that day, Charlie Brown met Linus at a little brick wall in their neighborhood. This was their favorite place to talk and discuss things.  
  
"So Charlie Brown, what instrument did you pick?" Linus inquired.  
  
"Well, I wanted to get a trumpet so I could impress the Little Red Haired girl, but all I got was a Mellophone." Charlie Brown said.  
  
Linus was silent for a minute and then said, "What in the world is a mellophone?"  
  
"I'm not sure if I've even figured it out yet. But I'm sure it's the kind of instrument that doesn't impress little red haired girls. I don't know Linus. Everything I do turns into a fiasco."  
  
"Don't worry too much, Charlie Brown." said Linus. "I'm sure you'll feel a lot better one we start having band practice. Mr. Dunlap said they are going to start next week! All of the kids are going to be there. It's gonna be great! I can't wait! I get to play trombone!"  
  
Charlie Brown wished that he could be just as excited as Linus was. But all he could think was, "How am I going to impress the Little Red Haired Girl with an instrument that no one knows what it is?"  
  
It was then he decided to find some professional advice. He walked a little further down the block to Lucy's psychiatric booth.  
  
"How may I help you? You blockhead." Lucy asked in her usual crabby way.  
  
"Well, I decided to join the school marching band today, see, so I could impress the Little Red Haired Girl. But I didn't get the instrument that I wanted. In fact, I didn't get any of the instruments that I wanted. There was only one instrument left by the time I got there, so I had to take it. The problem is, no one knows what in the world it is. Even I don't know what in the world it is."  
  
"Well, what instrument did you get Charlie Brown?"  
  
"A mellophone."  
  
"What in the world is a mellophone?" Lucy asked.  
  
Charlie Brown sighed as Lucy pulled out a dictionary from under her desk and opened it to M.  
  
"Mellophone: A French horn especially made for marching band." Lucy read. "There Charlie Brown. Now you know what it is."  
  
Charlie Brown pondered for a moment. A French horn wasn't that unusual of an instrument. So Charlie Brown guessed that maybe a mellophone wasn't very unusual either. Suddenly, he felt a lot better.  
  
"Leave it to you, blockhead, to pick out an instrument that you'd have to look in a dictionary to figure out what it is. Five cents please!" Lucy said.  
  
"But all you did was look up a word in a dictionary! I could have done that at home for free!" Charlie Brown protested.  
  
"FIVE CENTS PLEASE!"  
  
"Good grief," Charlie Brown said has he handed over a nickel.  
  
Later that evening, Charlie Brown was watching television at his house when the phone rang.  
  
"Hello?" Charlie Brown answered.  
  
"Hey Chuck! You'll never guess what Marcie and I have been up to!" it was Peppermint Patty, and as soon as Charlie Brown realized that he wondered if he would ever be able to get an entire sentence in the conversation with out being interrupted.  
  
"What's going...." Charlie Brown tried to reply.  
  
"Me and Marcie here have joined the marching band at school! How about that Chuck? What do you think about that? Huh Chuck?" Peppermint Patty said in her usual animated way of talking.  
  
"Well...." Charlie Brown said again trying to speak.  
  
"And I'll bet you'll never guess what we're gonna play? Can you guess? Huh, Chuck? I'm gonna play snare drum, and Marcie here is gonna play cymbals. Isn't that great Chuck?"  
  
"That's great Peppermint Patty." Charlie Brown managed to say.  
  
As Peppermint Patty talked to Charlie Brown, Marcie listened attentively to the conversation.  
  
"Ask Charles if he misses me, sir." Marcie said to Peppermint Patty.  
  
"Marcie here wants to know if you think she's too inept to be in the marching band." Peppermint Patty said into the telephone receiver.  
  
"What?" said Charlie Brown, somewhat confused.  
  
"Never mind Chuck, she's just being weird again." Peppermint Patty responded. "Actually I don't suppose you decided to join the band too did you?"  
  
"Well, as a matter of fact, I did." Charlie Brown said.  
  
"You did Chuck? Somehow, I never pictured you as the musical type. But never mind that. I'll bet you picked out a real neat instrument didn't you Chuck."  
  
"Well, as a matter of fact, I did."  
  
"Well, what is it Chuck? Let's hear it! What instrument are you going to play?"  
  
"A mellophone!" Charlie Brown said proudly.  
  
"A mellophone? What in the world is a mellophone? Are you playing games with me Chuck? Who ever heard of a mellophone? Good grief Chuck, can't you even pick out a good instrument?" Peppermint Patty criticized.  
  
"Well I...." Charlie Brown started only to be once again interrupted by Peppermint Patty.  
  
"Never mind, Chuck. I'm hanging up now. And don't forget, practice starts next week!" and with that, Peppermint Patty ended the conversation.  
  
"What did Charles say, Sir?" Marcie asked.  
  
"That blockhead doesn't even know how to pick out an instrument. Get this Marcie, he's playing a mellophone!" Peppermint Patty complained.  
  
"What in the world is a mellophone, Sir?" Marcie asked.  
  
"Apparently it's an instrument for blockheads! Why couldn't he have played drums with us?" Peppermint Patty continued.  
  
"Charles isn't a blockhead, Sir. I'll bet it's a very nice instrument." Marcie stated. "You really shouldn't be so upset with Charles, Sir."  
  
"Stop calling me Sir!" Peppermint Patty said sternly.  
  
Meanwhile, Charlie Brown hung up the phone and sighed. He had felt better after finding out what a mellophone actually is. But the phone conversation with Peppermint Patty only made him feel bad again. "At least some of my friends are going to be in band too." Charlie Brown thought.  
  
"What's wrong Big Brother?" asked Sally, Charlie Brown's younger sister. She had noticed that he looked a little upset.  
  
"Peppermint Patty is mad at me for the instrument that I picked out for band." Charlie Brown said.  
  
"What instrument did you pick, Big Brother?" Sally asked.  
  
"A mellophone." Charlie Brown said.  
  
"What in the world is a mellophone?" Sally asked.  
  
"AAUGH!!!!" Charlie Brown screamed with frustration.  
  
"Anyway, I'm going to be in the band too. Only I'm not going to play an instrument. Mr. Dunlap said I'm going to be in the color guard! We get to have our own rifles and everything! We need the rifles so we can guard the instruments and the band room. Isn't that great, Big Brother?" Sally said excitedly.  
  
"Um...Sally...there's something you should know. The color guard doesn't actually guard anything. They twirl flags and things. And they don't use the rifles to shoot anything. They're special kinds of rifles they use the rifles for tossing and throwing." Charlie Brown tried to explain to his sister. He was used to her getting things mixed up, but she seldom ever listened when he tried to clarify things for her.  
  
"I never know what you're talking about!" Sally said totally dismissing what her brother was trying to tell her.  
  
"Good grief," thought Charlie Brown as he headed back to his room to try his mellophone again. "Practice starts next week....this should be very interesting." 


	3. Chapter III The First Band Practice

Chapter III –  
  
Disclaimer!  
  
From here on out, any similarities to any band organizations that the author, Dirty Snoopy, has been involved with, either past or present.....is a dirty shame. :-P  
  
Charlie Brown slowly walked down the hallway of his school. A week had passed, and it was now the day of the first band practice. Charlie Brown was worried. He had an instrument that no one had ever heard of, and he was quite certain that like all other situations he managed to get himself into, this too would end badly.  
  
It seemed to take forever for Charlie Brown to finally make his way to the end of the hallway, where the band room was located. The big doors seemed quite intimidating as he slowly raised his hand up and pushed on the door to enter the room.  
  
Charlie Brown entered the room and looked around. Kids were all around talking and laughing and showing each other their brand new instruments. Charlie Brown was immediately greeted by Linus.  
  
"Hey Charlie Brown!" Linus yelled excitedly as he. "You're finally here! This is so great! The whole gang is here." Linus then ran off to join Pig-Pen, who was also holding a trombone.  
  
"I wonder if there are any more people playing mellophone?" Charlie Brown wondered to himself.  
  
"Hey Chuck!" called a familiar voice from across the room. It was Peppermint Patty. Marcie followed not far behind as she proudly carried her new set of cymbals.  
  
"Glad you made it to practice, Chuck!" Peppermint Patty said excitedly. "Guess what! Mr. Dunlap wrote a great cadence set for the drumline! How about that, Chuck? It sounds great, and I can't wait to learn to play it. It's gonna be so fun...that is if Marcie here gets her act together."  
  
"Hello Charles." said Marcie in her usual polite manner. Look at what I can do...."  
  
CRASH Marcie, smiling proudly as she clashed her cymbals together, sending both Peppermint Patty and Charlie Brown falling backwards due to the force of the sound.  
  
"Now Marcie," Peppermint Patty lectured, "What did I tell you? You only cymbal crash when I tell you to cymbal crash. Do you understand that?"  
  
"Yes, Sir" Marcie said, still smiling.  
  
"Stop calling me 'Sir'!"  
  
Charlie Brown left the pair as the argued over the word 'sir', and continued to look for someone else who was going to be in his section.  
  
"Hey kid!" said a husky looking girl as she poked Charlie Brown on the shoulder. "Looks like you're the only other mellophone here," Charlie Brown immediately recognized the girl. It was Molly Volley, Snoopy's mixed doubles tennis partner from the previous summer.  
  
"Molly Volley...Hi." Charlie Brown said, a little surprised to see her.  
  
"I remember you. You're friends with that funny looking kid that was my mixed doubles tennis partner. I saw him here earlier. He's a pretty good trumpet player. A better trumpet player than he is a tennis player, that's for sure. Hey, by the way, you better not be thinking of how fat my legs are!"  
  
"Of course not," Charlie Brown said nervously. "Why would I think that?"  
  
"You just better not!" she demanded. "I'm gonna be your section leader, and if I catch you thinking about how fat I am, I'll make life miserable for you!"  
  
"Good grief!" was all Charlie Brown could say.  
  
"Anyway," Molly Volley continued in a much calmer voice, "I suppose you'd like to tell me how you got to play mellophone?"  
  
"Well," began Charlie Brown, "I really wanted a trumpet, or a saxophone, or even a trombone. But by the time I got here to get an instrument, they were all out of everything. The only instrument Mr. Dunlap had left was this mellophone. So if I wanted to be in band, I had to take it."  
  
"Well, I guess that sort of thing happens," said Molly Volley.  
  
"Is that why you got to play mellophone?" asked Charlie Brown.  
  
"No...actually, I just picked mello because it's the only instrument with a bell big enough to tape music onto...incase we can't get it all memorized in time. If you just tape the music on to the bell, that hides the music, and no one ever knows that you're reading from it."  
  
"I see," said Charlie Brown.  
  
"OK, Kid," Molly Volley said in an authoritative tone, "Let me show you around. Here is where we sit during music rehearsal. This is your music stand, and this is my music stand. And if you kick my music stand once I'll clobber you!"  
  
"I'll be careful."  
  
"Around here, Kid" she continued, "Our director doesn't let us do theme shows for halftime."  
  
"What kind of music do we get to play then?" asked Charlie Brown.  
  
"Well last year we played Malaguena, Spain, Winds of Sonora, and Olvidar. The year before that, we played Echano, Santana, Stiletto, and Estancia." Molly Volley explained.  
  
"Definitely not thematic," said Charlie Brown.  
  
Just then Mr. Dunlap called the students to attention, and asked them to be seated. Charlie Brown took his seat next to Molly Volley.  
  
"We get our new music for this season today," Said Molly Volley. "This better be good!"  
  
The students waited patiently but excitedly as Lucy and Violet helped distribute the music. Molly Volley frowned as Lucy gave her the music for the mellophone section.  
  
"Santana again?" she grumbled. "Not only did we play this song two years ago, but we played a song last year that sounded almost exactly like it! What else do we have here? Malaga, Tiger of San Pedro, and Spanish Nightmare? I guess we're not doing a theme show again this year."  
  
Meanwhile, in the trumpet section, Lucy was giving Snoopy his music. Snoopy was also disappointed at the season's music selection, as he thought, "Aww man! I wanted to do a Chuck Mangione show!"  
  
Woodstock, who was sitting next to Snoopy, with a piccolo trumpet, (because he is obviously too small for a regular sized trumpet) decided to add his two cents.  
  
"!!!!! !! !!!!!?" he asked.  
  
"No Woodstock. I don't think we get to play 'A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square.'" Snoopy answered.  
  
"!! !!!!!?" Woodstock asked.  
  
"No, I don't think we are going to play Birdland either." Snoopy replied.  
  
After all of the music was distributed, Mr. Dunlap addressed the students. He began to discuss all of the rules, events, and general information for their upcoming marching band season. Charlie Brown listened to Mr. Dunlap's speech as he looked around the band room. As he did so, he decided that he was enjoying his band experience, so far, at least. Suddenly, Charlie Brown realized that, although it had just started, his entire marching band experience was about to change forever. For in the front of the room, sat the Little Red Haired Girl. In her hands, she held a clarinet.  
  
At first, Charlie Brown was excited. "How great is this?" thought Charlie Brown. "Just think of all the extra time I'll get to spend around the Little Red Haired Girl." But soon, Charlie Brown's excitement turned to worry and anxiety. "What if I sound really bad when I play my instrument?" he thought to himself. "Then she won't be impressed. What if we're marching and I trip over my own two feet? Then she'll probably laugh at me. That would be absolutely humiliating. What if I do something really stupid? Then she'll probably think I'm really dumb." Charlie Brown slumped in his chair.  
  
"Hey Kid! Get ready to play!" Molly Volley said, interrupting his anxious thoughts.  
  
Taking the cue from Mr. Dunlap the band began to play. Suddenly, staves of musical notes began to fill the air. Upon taking notice of this phenomenon, Snoopy happily sprung up from his chair and began dancing on the musical staves. Leaping from staff to staff, he continued his happy dance, completely oblivious of the glares he was getting from everyone else in the room. It was only after a few minutes he noticed this, when he fell through one of the staffs after it disappeared because everyone had stopped playing. Instead of playing, all of the students glared at the beagle. Snoopy turned red with embarrassment and sheepishly returned to his seat.  
  
The rest of the rehearsal continued without incident.  
  
Later that evening, Charlie Brown was home reading a book when Sally came into the room looking very aggravated.  
  
"Big Brother!" she demanded. "Why didn't you tell me?"  
  
"Why didn't I tell you what?" Charlie Brown answered.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me the color guard doesn't use the rifles to guard anything?" She cried. "I was so embarrassed. This other girl was there, taking out long poles and flags, and I asked, 'Are we going to guard these? I thought we were going to guard the instruments,' and she started laughing at me!"  
  
"So what did you do?" Charlie Brown asked.  
  
"I hit her over the head with my flag pole!" She said proudly.  
  
"Well, it seems that you don't remember," began Charlie Brown, "I did try to tell you exactly what the color guard does. But you wouldn't listen!"  
  
"But you're my big brother," Sally complained, "You're supposed to make me listen to you!"  
  
"Good grief! Well, in any case, if you're going to be in the marching band, you are going to have to learn to listen to people when they tell you things. They give you a lot of instructions, and if you don't listen carefully, you won't know what to do. Then you can get into trouble if you don't know what's going on." Charlie Brown tried to explain. "So what happened after that?"  
  
"Well, we learned to drop spin. It was a lot of fun, but my arms are really tired." She answered. "How did things go with your telephone?"  
  
"Not telephone, Sally! Mellophone!" Charlie Brown said in frustration.  
  
"Oh," said Sally. "I was wondering how you could play a telephone as an instrument. Anyway, I'm happy because my Sweet Baboo is in the band too. Maybe next time we have practice, he will play a song just for me!"  
  
Suddenly, they heard a voice from across the neighborhood, "I am NOT you're sweet baboo! And I wouldn't play a song for you if you were the Queen of England!"  
  
"Isn't he the cutest thing?" she said adoringly.  
  
"Good grief," said Charlie Brown as he headed to bed for the night. "What a marching band this is going to turn out to be. This is going to be even stranger than my baseball team. A dog who plays trumpet, not to mention half the trumpet section is consisted of birds. A girl in the color guard who doesn't even know what a color guard actually does. And then there's the Little Red Haired Girl. How on earth am I going to impress the Little Red Haired Girl?" 


	4. Chapter IV The Fruit Sale

Chapter IV – The Fruit Sale  
  
Several months went by as Charlie Brown and his friends went to band practice two days a week. Things were coming along reasonably well for all of them learning their new instruments, even for Charlie Brown. He had still not been able to bring him self to speak to the Little Red Haired Girl, but he enjoyed looking at her from across the band room during practice, just as he would look at her from across the class room during the school day.  
  
One day at the beginning of band practice, Charlie Brown was gazing at the Little Red Haired Girl from across the band room, when something unusual interrupted his thoughts. The band director, Mr. Dunlap, was standing aside from his usual place on the podium. In his place, was a woman whom he had never seen before; a very large woman with funny looking hair.  
  
Charlie Brown turned around to the trombone section to ask, "Linus, who is that lady?"  
  
"That's the band booster's president, Charlie Brown. She is talking about the annual fruit sale fundraiser, so we can raise money to go on trips this fall."  
  
As Charlie Brown listened to the speech, he began to worry. He didn't know anything about selling fruit, or selling anything for that matter. The previous Christmas, he had gone door to door in his neighborhood, trying to sell Christmas wreaths that he had made. He did not sell a single one. This was typical as to how all of Charlie Brown's business ventures turned out. Even when he would offer services, such as raking leaves in the fall, or shoveling sidewalks in the winter, no one would ever want his help.  
  
When the lady at the front of the room finished talking, Molly Volley turned to Charlie Brown and said, "OK, Kid! I hope you plan on selling a lot of fruit, because the section that sells the most fruit gets free pizza from Joe's Pizza Parlor! But this isn't about the pizza. It's about mello pride! So are you gonna help me sell a lot of fruit or what, Kid?"  
  
"Sure. I'll try at least," replied Charlie Brown.  
  
"That's the spirit, Kid. We're gonna WIN!"  
  
Later that evening, Charlie Brown was at home reading the letter that Mr. Dunlap had sent home with the students.  
  
"Dear Band Member," Charlie Brown read aloud. "It is that time of year again to begin raising money for all of our band trips in the fall. For our first fundraiser, we will be holding our annual fruit sale. This fruit sale has made a lot of money for the band in the past, and we hope that all of the students will work hard again to make this year's sale a success. In order have a profitable sale, we ask that each student sell at least twenty boxes of fruit." Charlie Brown stopped reading and said, "Twenty boxes! Good grief! How in the world am I going to sell twenty boxes?!" He continued reading the letter, "It is encouraged that students sell as many boxes as possible. This sale will last for two weeks. To help promote sales this year, we have decided to have a competition between all of the sections. The section that sells the most fruit will receive free pizza and root beer from Joe's Pizza Parlor. Thank you and good luck!"  
  
Charlie Brown began to worry. How was he going to be able to sell that much fruit? Since his sister Sally was also going to have to do the same, he decided that maybe they should work together. Charlie Brown looked around the house for Sally, only to find her in the back yard spinning her flag, as she stood on top of a cardboard box. Charlie Brown was puzzled.  
  
"Um...Sally...What are you doing?" Charlie Brown asked, wondering if he would be sorry for asking such a question.  
  
"I'm practicing my box drills!" Sally said enthusiastically.  
  
"Your box drills?" Charlie Brown said.  
  
"Yeah! Mr. Dunlap said that next week we are going to learn how to do box drills, and I want to get a head start!" She answered proudly.  
  
"Um...Sally. I don't think that's exactly what Mr. Dunlap had in mind....Oh, nevermind that now. Sally, how are we going to sell this much fruit?" Charlie Brown said, holding up the letter.  
  
"We? You're my Big Brother, so that means you have to sell my twenty boxes along with your twenty boxes!" Sally said.  
  
"But that's forty boxes! Selling twenty is going to be hard enough! There's no way I'm selling that many." Charlie Brown said in frustration.  
  
"But you're my Big Brother!" Sally protested.  
  
"That may be true," said Charlie Brown, "But you have responsibilities too, Sally. If you want to be in the marching band, there are going to be a lot of extra things that you are going to have to do. And you shouldn't expect me, or anyone else to do these things for you. So...how do you think we should go about selling this much fruit?"  
  
"I don't know. I haven't really thought about it." She answered.  
  
"Well, you really should. We only have two weeks, you know." Charlie Brown warned her.  
  
Sally stopped spinning her flag, and stepped down from the box. "I guess you're right, Big Brother. How are we going to sell this much fruit?"  
  
"I don't know, Sally. I was thinking we could start out by asking Mom and Dad, and then maybe calling Grandma and Grandpa. And then, I thought maybe we should around the neighborhood and asking if people want to buy any."  
  
"But you've never sold anything around the neighborhood!" Sally reminded him.  
  
"Yes, Sally. I know." Charlie Brown said discouragingly. "But...I suppose we could at least try."  
  
The next day Charlie Brown and Sally went door to door in their neighborhood, in hopes of finding some business. Charlie Brown knocked on the door of the first house and a man answered. "Good morning sir. Would you like to buy a box of fruit to support the marching band? Oh...I see. Well thank you anyway, sir. Have a good day!"  
  
"What happened?" asked Sally. "He said he didn't want any fruit because....Well, you've been to Johnson's Produce Market down town."  
  
"Yes, what about it?"  
  
"Well, that was Mr. Johnson! What does he need to buy fruit from us for? He has a whole supermarket full of it!"  
  
"You're whole trouble is that you don't try hard enough." Sally lectured as they arrived at the next house. "Here. Let me try!"  
  
Sally went up the front porch steps and knocked on the door. A kid about her age answered the door.  
  
"Hey kid, you don't look very good. You look like you've been eating too much candy. You need some fruit! Ask your mother if she wants to buy fruit from us!" She demanded.  
  
A few minutes later he came back and said, "She said she would like to, but we already have an apple tree in our back yard."  
  
"Just wait and see! You'll be sorry when you're apple tree gets termites. Then you'll wish you had bought from us!" Sally yelled as the boy closed the door.  
  
Charlie Brown and Sally went all over their neighborhood, without luck, trying to sell at least one box of fruit.  
  
"Well, Sally. We went all over the neighborhood, and we didn't sell a single box." Charlie Brown said disappointed as they returned to their house.  
  
"Don't worry yet, Big Brother." Sally answered. "Remember we still have ask Mom and Dad."  
  
"You're right. We'll have to wait until they get home. In the mean time, why don't you call Grandma and Grampa?"  
  
Sally went into the kitchen and picked up the phone.  
  
"Hello, Grandma? It's me. Sally! How are you? Christmas gift? Why yes, I really liked the Christmas gift you sent me, thank you very much. Oh, no. Your 'thank you' card didn't get lost in the mail. I just never sent it.....Yes, Grandma.....Yes....Yes, I understand. I apologize. Well, thank you again. Goodbye." "Well, what happened?" Charlie Brown asked as Sally hung up the telephone.  
  
"I never got around to asking her if she wanted to buy any fruit from us. I was too busy apologizing!" She replied.  
  
"Apologizing? What for?" Charlie Brown asked, a bit confused.  
  
"I had to apologize because I didn't send her a 'thank you' card for the Christmas present she sent!"  
  
"Christmas present? But Christmas was months ago!"  
  
"I know. I had no idea thank you cards were so important to Grandmas. What's the big deal anyway? I just thanked her over the phone. Isn't that good enough?" Sally complained.  
  
"Sometimes people like to know that you really appreciate what they do for you. It's very impolite not to send a 'thank you' card when someone send you a gift," Charlie Brown tried to explain.  
  
"But I don't like writing out thank you cards!" Sally continued to complain.  
  
"It doesn't matter. If that's the case, maybe we should tell Grandma and Grandpa that you don't like receiving gifts either. Then you won't have to worry about sending the tank you cards....Anyway," Charlie Brown said, returning to the issue at hand, "Let's call Grandma again, and I'll talk to her this time. She'll be happy to hear from me."  
  
"What makes you say that, Big Brother?" Sally asked.  
  
"Because I sent her a thank you card! Not to mention a birthday card, and an anniversary card." He said.  
  
"Big Brothers always like to show off," Sally said as Charlie Brown dialed his Grandparent's phone number.  
  
"Hello, Grandma? It's Charlie Brown. How are you?.....Well, I was wondering, if you'd be interested in buying some fruit from Sally and I? We just joined the marching band, see, and they are making us sell fruit to help raise money.....You would? Thank you very much!....Yes...you too, Grandma. Goodbye!" Charlie Brown wore a huge smile as he hung up the phone. "Guess what, Sally! Grandma just bought two boxes from us!"  
  
"Our first sale!" She said excitedly.  
  
Later that evening, after Charlie Brown had explained the whole situation to his father, entered Sally's room and said, "Sally, I just talked to Dad about our problem. I told him about how we went all over the neighborhood this afternoon and didn't sell anything. He said he is willing to help us out."  
  
"Really? That's great!"  
  
"He said that he can take orders down at his barbershop. He knows a lot of people, and he is friends with most of his customers. Not only that, but he is always candy bars and girl scout cookies from people who are selling them for their children, so a lot of people will be happy to return the favor and buy from him. He said he shouldn't have any trouble at all selling that much fruit for us. He said that he may even be able to sell more than forty boxes." Charlie Brown explained.  
  
"That's even better. Does this mean I don't have to do anything else for this sale?" Sally asked, trying to get out of doing more work.  
  
"Well, that's the thing, Sally. Dad said he would be more than willing to help us, only if we help take care of delivering all of the fruit. Would you be willing to do that?"  
  
"Oh, I suppose so." She answered.  
  
"Good then. I'll go tell Dad."  
  
Charlie Brown was pleased with the way things were turning out. He kept on thinking of how nice it was of his father to help him and his sister. The days of the sale went on, Charlie Brown continued to try to sell some boxes on his own, without much success.  
  
A few days later, Charlie Brown received a phone call.  
  
"Hello?" he answered.  
  
"Hello, Chuck? This is Peppermint Patty. I've got a bone to pick with you Chuck. What's the big idea of coming on our turf and selling your fruit? Don't you know that me and Marcie here have to sell fruit too? You're stealing our customers, Chuck!" Peppermint Patty raged at Charlie Brown.  
  
"I don't know what you are talking about. I have been trying and trying to sell, but no one wants to buy from me! And besides, I haven't even been on your side of town for weeks!" Charlie Brown said, trying to defend himself.  
  
"Well what's this I hear that my neighbor already bought fruit from a Mr. Brown? Huh Chuck?"  
  
"Ask Charles if he wants to buy some fruit from me, Sir." Marcie interjected.  
  
"Oh, and Marcie here wants to know if you're gonna throw fruit at her the next time you see her." Peppermint Patty added.  
  
"Throw fruit at her? What? Why in the world would I do that?" Charlie Brown said, as he was becoming very confused.  
  
"Not throw, Sir! Buy! Ask him if he wants to buy a box from me!" Marcie said to Peppermint Patty.  
  
"Stop calling me Sir! Anyway, Chuck. Why is my neighbor telling me that he already bought from someone named Brown? Are you selling fruit behind my back Chuck?" Peppermint Patty again demanded.  
  
"I don't know what you are talking about. I didn't sell anything. All I know is my dad has been helping my sister and I by selling it at his barbershop. So your neighbor probably bought it from my dad," he explained.  
  
"Chuck! You mean to tell me that your dad is selling all of your fruit for you? Here Marcie and I are working our brains out trying to sell, and you're having your dad do all of your work for you? What kind of person are you Chuck?"  
  
"Well, I...." he tried to say.  
  
"Good bye Chuck!" Peppermint Patty said as she slammed the receiver to hang up.  
  
"Good grief," said Charlie Brown.  
  
The remainder of the two week sale continued without incident. Charlie Brown's father sold over fifty boxes for Charlie Brown and Sally. The two helped their father deliver the fruit and thanked their customers for supporting the band. Charlie Brown was grateful for his father's help, and at the same time his father enjoyed helping.  
  
After they finished the delivery, they returned home. Upon returning home, an urgent thought occurred to Charlie Brown.  
  
"Good grief! What about Snoopy?" he thought to himself. "I completely forgot about Snoopy! I should have remembered that he needed to sell fruit too. I should have helped him, and now it's too late!"  
  
Charlie Brown rushed out to his back yard, only to find a mountain of fruit boxes stacked behind Snoopy's doghouse. The sight amazed Charlie Brown, as he wondered how in the world Snoopy was able not only to sell that many boxes, but to get them all home.  
  
"I'm not even going to ask," Charlie Brown said as he turned around to go back inside.  
  
Meanwhile, behind the mountain of fruit boxes, someone was getting a huge lecture.  
  
"One orange?!?!" Snoopy cried as his ears pointed straight up in shock. "What do you mean you only sold one orange!?!? You were supposed to sell twenty boxes, and now you come back here and tell me you only sold one orange?"  
  
"!! !!!! !!!" Woodstock responded. He looked like he was ready to cry.  
  
"You're a disgrace to the whole trumpet section! Now, what do you have to say for yourself?" Snoopy continued to lecture.  
  
"!!! !!!! ! !!!!" Woodstock explained.  
  
"Well, I guess you're right. It would be hard to fit more than one orange in a bird nest," Snoopy said, a bit calmer. "Alright then, the least you can do is help me deliver all of this stuff."  
  
Snoopy and Woodstock loaded all of the fruit boxes onto the back of Snoopy's doghouse. Snoopy then put on his goggles and scarf and hopped on to the top of his doghouse. Woodstock tried haphazardly to fly to the top, but struggled. Snoopy rolled his eyes and grabbed Woodstock out of mid-air and set him down. Suddenly, the doghouse doubled as a Sopwith Camel airplane, and Snoopy was taking off into the air.  
  
"Here's the World War I flying ace, on a mission to deliver supplies to the infantry camps." Snoopy thought to himself. Looking down from his Sopwith Camel/doghouse, he spotted the house of his first delivery. "Prepare to drop the supplies!" He shouted over the roar of the engine. Woodstock pushed a box over the edge of the doghouse, and it gently floated down and landed on the front stoop of the house, as the box had a parachute attached to it.  
  
"Here's the next camp! Prepare the supplies!" Snoopy ordered Woodstock again.  
  
Snoopy and Woodstock continued this until they were down to their last delivery. Just then, over the horizon, Snoopy spotted an all too familiar sight.  
  
"It's the Red Barron!" he thought out of disgust. "Hang on!"  
  
Snoopy and the Red Barron then engaged in a short but decisive dog fight. After a few minutes, Snoopy found that the back of his plane had been hit and was smoking. Finding satisfaction, the Red Barron disappeared into the sky.  
  
"Curse you Red Barron! Curse you!" Snoopy cried as his plane smoked. Turning to Woodstock he said, "We're over the last infantry camp! Hurry up and drop the last supply box and prepare for a crash landing!" Woodstock quickly obeyed the orders and pushed the last box off of the plane/doghouse, and watched as the parachute released from the falling package, and drifted towards the ground. He noticed that the package looked like it was on fire.  
  
At that very moment, somewhere in the middle of the desert, just outside of Needles, a smoking box of oranges landed right in front of Spike.  
  
"Hey! Our fruit delivery is here!" Spike thought as he turned to his cactus. "That's funny, I didn't think we ordered roasted oranges." 


	5. Chapter V Good Grief! Band Camp is Com...

_Chapter V – Good Grief! Band Camp is Coming!!  
_

* * *

Charlie Brown stood on his pitcher's mound, focused on his baseball game. He was determined to strike out the next batter. The wind up....the pitch....CRACK The batter hit the baseball and Charlie Brown and the rest of his team watched helplessly as it soared over second base, over the outfield, and over the back fence, to score yet another homerun for the visiting team.  
  
"Good grief!" Charlie Brown whined. "Twenty-seven to nothing, and it's still only the first inning!"  
  
The final months and weeks of school had finally passed, and summer vacation was now in full swing, as was baseball season.  
  
"Charlie Brown! Charlie Brown!" called Lucy as she sprinted from across left field. "I have a great idea!"  
  
"Oh boy...here we go again," he said to himself.  
  
"I have a great idea to help us win games! Why don't we get the marching band to come and play for our baseball games? We can have a pep band, and they can cheer us on and maybe we'll win!" Lucy spoke excitedly.  
  
"But marching bands not normally play for baseball games. Just football. And besides, most of or baseball team is in the band, so how would they be able to play baseball and an instrument at the same time?" Charlie Brown said.  
  
"That's a very good point, Charlie Brown. We could win some games by having the band here," Lucy said in a thoughtful tone of voice.  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Charlie Brown.  
  
"Well, if the band was here, you would be playing mellophone, and not pitching. Any game where you're not pitching is practically a guaranteed win for us."  
  
"Good grief!"  
  
The rest of the baseball game went as per usual, with Charlie Brown's team losing fifty-nine to four. Charlie Brown sadly dragged his feet on the ground as Linus walked home with him after the game. Charlie Brown was upset. It seemed no matter what he did, or how hard he tried, things just did not work out for him. He really wanted to win the game that day, just as he wanted to win all of the games before. But they always turned out the same. They always ended up losing embarrassingly.  
  
"Don't worry Charlie Brown," Linus said, as he tried to comfort his friend. "Maybe we'll win the next game."  
  
Charlie Brown was used to these speeches from Linus. After every game, Linus always seemed to have something similar to say to try to help Charlie Brown feel better about losing the baseball game.  
  
"I don't know Linus. I just can never seem to win at anything. Not just baseball, but everything and anything. In fact, I never even seem to come close." Charlie Brown lamented.  
  
"Well, Charlie Brown," began Linus, "I think I have some news for you that may be of some consolation. I spoke to Mr. Dunlap the other day. He says he wants to take us to band competitions this fall. He said if we work really hard, we will have a good chance at winning. So...you may just find yourself on a winning team yet, Charlie Brown."  
  
"Hmm..." Slowly, Charlie Brown forgot about his sorry mess of a baseball game and slowly began to smile. Just the thought of being on a winning team of any kind absolutely thrilled Charlie Brown. And the fact that the Little Red Haired Girl would be apart of this win would make it even more special. "If I work really hard, maybe the Little Red Haired Girl will notice and be impressed. Maybe if we go to band competitions and win, the Little Red Haired Girl will be so excited she'll come running up, and she'll throw her arms around me and she'll give me a great big hug! I can see it now. It would be so great." Charlie Brown thought to himself.  
  
His thoughts were interrupted as he noticed Linus standing next to him giving him a very strange look. "Charlie Brown," he said. "Why are you standing there hugging that telephone pole?"  
  
Suddenly, Charlie Brown realized that through his fantasy of getting to hug the Little Red Haired Girl, he had let his imagination get out of control and he was actually hugging the telephone pole as he and Linus were waiting to cross the street. Upon realizing this, Charlie Brown turned bright red with embarrassment, and released his embrace on the telephone pole and tried to bring the conversation back to the original subject.  
  
"So what's this about band competitions?" Charlie Brown asked.  
  
"Well, Mr. Dunlap said that band competitions are when a whole bunch of marching bands get together during the fall, and they all perform their field shows, and get judged and scored based on how well they do. Mr. Dunlap said that our band just may be good enough to score first place at a few of the contests. But we're going to have to work really hard before fall even gets here. That's why we're having band camp in two weeks...so we can make sure we're ready." Linus explained.  
  
"Band Camp! Good grief!" said Charlie Brown.  
  
By this time the two were in front of Charlie Brown's house. Charlie Brown invited Linus in for some cookies and milk, an offer to which Linus eagerly accepted.  
  
Sally noticed the two entering the front door and happily greeted Linus as she said, "Has my Sweet Babboo come to ask me to see a movie?"  
  
Linus grinded his teeth together in frustration and yelled, "I am NOT your Sweet Babboo!! And I wouldn't take you to see the garbage scow float down the river!"  
  
"Isn't he the cutest thing?" Sally said, admiring Linus.  
  
Charlie Brown and Linus went into the kitchen, where Charlie Brown's mother served the two cookies and milk.  
  
"Since I have band camp this year, maybe my parents won't make me go to summer camp this summer," Charlie Brown said to Linus. He really didn't want to go to summer camp.  
  
"Maybe," Linus said. "But Mr. Dunlap said it is going to be a lot of hard work. We are going to have to memorize all of our music, and learn marching drill for all four songs."  
  
"And the best part is," interrupted Charlie Brown, "I get to spend all of that time around the Little Red Haired Girl."  
  
Linus looked out the kitchen window and took notice to a commotion taking place in the backyard. "Charlie Brown...what on earth is going on?"  
  
At that moment, Snoopy was in the backyard barking orders to Woodstock and several other mechanics. His Sopwith Camel was still a mess from his last encounter with the Red Barron. The World War I flying ace had not been able to fly any missions since the supplies delivery mission, and he was very upset his mechanics had not been doing their job.  
  
"Get this thing fixed by the end of the day or else I'll have you all court marshaled!" Snoopy barked at the birds/mechanics.  
  
When Snoopy was this upset, there was only one thing that could make him feel better. He left the birds/mechanics to their work, and came into the house through the back kitchen door, where Linus and Charlie Brown were continuing their discussion.  
  
"And so I thought that maybe.....maybe....maybe......" Charlie Brown began to loose track of his sentence as he saw Snoopy come up to the table, grab a big plate, and fill it up with chocolate chip cookies. He then took out a glass from the dishwasher and filled it up with milk. As he left the kitchen he turned and gave an innocent grin to Charlie Brown.  
  
"Snoopy!" Charlie Brown called, "Dinner is in an hour and a half! Wouldn't you rather have the cookies after dinner?"  
  
"It's unfair to the cookies to keep them waiting that long!" Snoopy thought as he returned to the back yard.  
  
Charlie Brown and Linus just looked at each other with amazement.  
  
Sally then entered the room through the back door. She was coming from the garage with a hand full of stuff. Charlie Brown and Linus looked at her. She was carrying a tent, a sleeping bag, and some bug repellent.  
  
"Sally, what are you doing with all of that camping equipment?" Charlie Brown asked?  
  
"I heard you and Linus talking about going to Band Camp, so I'm getting ready for it!" She said with a simple simile.  
  
"Oh good grief...no no no no NO!" said a frustrated Charlie Brown, and turning to Linus he said, "Linus, YOU explain to her...." Charlie Brown was getting very tired of his sister constantly getting things mixed up.  
  
"You don't need all of that stuff. Band camp is just were we take a week or two and practice and get ready for the marching band season," Linus attempted to explain.  
  
"Isn't he the cutest thing?" Sally said totally ignoring the explanation as she left the room.  
  
"Is she like this all the time Charlie Brown?" Linus asked after she had left.  
  
"ALL the time," Charlie Brown said as he rolled his eyes.  
  
"Well, don't worry about it too much. We'll just let Mr. Dunlap deal with her!" Linus said.  
  
"That's not a good idea, Linus. She will drive him crazy." 


	6. Chapter VI Band Camp! AAUGH! Part 1

Chapter VI – Band Camp...AAUGH! – Part 1  
  
Two weeks later, Charlie Brown found himself on his way to the first day of band camp. He knew it would be very hard work, but he was looking forward to it because he knew he would get to see the Little Red Haired Girl. When he arrived at the band room, most of his friends were already there.  
  
Molly Volley immediately found Charlie Brown. "Okay, Kid! This is how things are gonna work. We're gonna go out on to the practice field, and I'm gonna teach you how to march. Ya got that kid?" She said.  
  
"Sure," said Charlie Brown.  
  
"Not 'sure'. When we're at practice and I tell you something, you say 'YES SIR'! Because that's how we do things around here in this band. You got that?" Molly Volley lectured.  
  
"I guess...I mean YES SIR!" Charlie Brown said.  
  
"That's better," she said.  
  
Soon Mr. Dunlap called all of the students to their seats and explained the schedule for the day. First, they were to go outside onto the practice field, and learn how to march, and then learn the first few charts of the halftime drill. Then, later in the afternoon, they were going to practice music.  
  
Later that morning, the students walked on to the practice field for the first time. Many of the students found disappointment upon first seeing the field. Because the football coaches of the school were very touchy, the band was not allowed to practice on the main field in the school's stadium. The band instead was allotted a large area of field located behind the school. The field was neatly lined, numbered, and painted, and behind the field, there was a small lake. This lake was an area of inhabitance for flocks of geese and ducks and the like, which created a small problem for the band. When a flock would soar above the field, they often left "business" on the field. As a result, anyone who set foot on the field was bound to get their shoes in this "business". The custodians of the school tried their best to keep the field clean while marching band season was in progress, but they were not always able to keep up.  
  
Molly Volley had her section, consisting only of Charlie Brown, lined up on the thirty yard line. All of the other instrumental sections had their designated marching area on the field as well.  
  
"Ok, kid! March forward eight counts and halt! Any questions?" Molly Volley commanded.  
  
"NO SIR!" called back Charlie Brown.  
  
Charlie Brown took his first few steps forward, thinking how easy this was going to be when suddenly, he thought too soon. KLUNK! Charlie Brown had fallen flat on his face. Immediately, he rose to his feet and looked around to see if anyone had seen his moment of blockheadedness. He was afraid that the Little Red Haired Girl had seen him and was laughing. But this was not the case.  
  
"OK Kid! Try it again!" Molly Volley commanded.  
  
On his second attempt, Charlie Brown managed not to trip again, but he found himself being totally out of step. He sighed as Molly Volley made him try it again. "I guess this isn't as easy as I thought," he thought to himself.  
  
But Charlie Brown was not the only one having troubles with their first marching attempt. Elsewhere on the field, Peppermint Patty was finding out that Marcie was just about as inept at marching as she was at playing baseball.  
  
"Alright Marcie, Let's try and get it right this time." Peppermint Patty said.  
  
"YES SIR!" Marcie called out.  
  
"Will you PLEASE quit calling me Sir!" Peppermint Patty demanded.  
  
"But Mr. Dunlap gave me permission to call you 'Sir'!" Marcie said.  
  
"Look, I don't care if George Washington gave you permission. Quit calling me Sir!" Peppermint Patty said hotly.  
  
Just then, the flute section was marching by the drumline. Lucy barked out commands with Frieda and Violet responding back, "YES SIR!"  
  
"See?" said Marcie, "Lucy doesn't mind being called 'Sir.'"  
  
"AAUGH!!!" Screamed Peppermint Patty out of frustration.  
  
The trombone section was having their fair share of problems as well. None of them could manage to march in a straight line. The problem was that none of them could see due to the large cloud of dust that surrounded the section. This, of course was Pig Pen's cloud.  
  
Snoopy, the trumpet section leader, was at this time arguing with his section. "No! You can't fly in marching band! You HAVE to march! It's not called a flying band! Now quit being ridiculous. I can't believe you birds!"  
  
In response to this Woodstock said, "!! !!! !!!!!"  
  
"I know you're a bird, but come on! Besides, you can't even fly in a straight line. How do you expect to fly in a straight line when you're playing an instrument?" Snoopy continued to argue with Woodstock.  
  
Woodstock reached into his trumpet case and pulled out a compass and a level, and then taped them on to his trumpet. He then made an attempt to fly with the contraption, using it as a makeshift navigation system. This attempt was quickly proved to be unsuccessful, as Woodstock quickly lost control and crashed right into Snoopy's nose.  
  
"Good grief! This is ridiculous! What kind of bird are you if you need a navigation system to fly?!?! Now get into that line and fall into attention!" Snoopy commanded sternly. He was obviously not at all happy with his section.  
  
After working on marching basics for a little over an hour, it was time for the band to begin learning the drill formations for their field show.  
  
Mr. Dunlap introduced the students to a man by the name of Mr. Randall. He was to be the band's marching instructor, and he was additionally responsible for writing the marching drill. He gave all of the students a copy of this drill.  
  
"Alright, I'm gonna show you where to sent the first chart," Molly Volley said as she pushed Charlie Brown across the field. Upon studying the drill further she stopped, and frowned as she said "Every year we start the same; two circles, one on one side of the fifty, and one on the other side of the fifty. And then one year, the band got so small, we could only have one circle!"  
  
The band fell into attention in the formation of two circles, and then proceeded to march into the second formation. Mr. Dunlap was determined to do a thorough job of teaching the drill, because he wanted to make sure that the students learned it. So, he made the students take it back and march it over....and over....and over...and over.  
  
By this time, the cool morning air had turned to humid and hot, with the sun beating directly down on everyone. The students were beginning to become a bit cranky. Not only was it hot outside, but they had accomplished little more than learning one drill move.  
  
"What seems to be the problem, Sir?" Marcie asked.  
  
"This is all messed up, Marcie. We keep on running into the flute sections, the trombones are running over the trumpets, and the clarinets can't get to their spot in time." Peppermint Patty said with an annoyed tone of voice.  
  
Marcie looked to the front of the field where Mr. Dunlap and Mr. Randall were standing. "Look Sir! It looks like Mr. Dunlap and Mr. Randal are having an argument!"  
  
"Marcie! It's not nice to stare!" Peppermint Patty said in a loud whisper.  
  
"Did you hear that, Sir? Mr. Dunlap just told Mr. Randall that his drill writing is terrible!" Marcie said, now paying full attention to the confrontation between the two teachers.  
  
"Marcie! It's not nice to listen in on other people's conversations!" Peppermint Patty reprimanded her again.  
  
"And did you hear that, Sir? Mr. Randall just said that Mr. Dunlap doesn't even know what good drill writing is!" As if she were an announcer broadcasting a football game, Marcie was now giving a detailed account of what was turning into a heated argument.  
  
"Look, Sir! Mr. Dunlap just hit Mr. Randall over the head with a stack of drill chart papers! Oh! And did you see that? Mr. Randall just hit Mr. Dunlap over the head with a flag pole! DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY WITH THAT MR. DUNLAP!" Marcie called out.  
  
"Marcie! Stay out of it!" Peppermint Patty desperately tried to warn her.  
  
"Look what's going on now Sir! The big lady with the funny looking hair is coming!" Marcie reported.  
  
"Marcie! That's not a nice way to talk about someone!" Peppermint Patty again corrected her.  
  
"The big lady with funny looking hair is trying to break up the fight!"  
  
"Be quiet Marcie! She may hear you!"  
  
"Now Mr. Dunlap is yelling at the big lady with funny looking hair!"  
  
"MARCIE!!!!"  
  
"Oh no, Sir! Mr. Dunlap just pushed the big lady with funny looking hair! AAUGH!!!" Marcie screamed as she covered her eyes. She couldn't stand to watch as the big lady with funny looking hair rolled down the hill and landed in a bin of dirty band uniforms that were on their way to the dry cleaners.  
  
Marcie opened her eyes again and said "Look now, Sir! The big lady with funny looking hair is coming back up the hill, and she looks really mad! Look! She has a flag pole in her hands she's chasing after Mr. Dunlap and Mr. Randall!"  
  
Marcie and Peppermint Patty watched as the lady with funny looking hair ran after Mr. Dunlap and Mr. Randall, as she was wildly swinging the flag pole in the air, trying desperately to hit one of them.  
  
"!!! !!! !?" Woodstock asked Snoopy.  
  
"What does this mean? I believe it means...it's time for lunch!" he answered.  
  
Lunch was the time of day very much looked forward to by the band students. It was a break from all of the hard work, and they could go inside away from the sun, where it was a lot cooler. For Charlie Brown, however, the lunch hour was a time he dreaded. He found his lunch bag and sat down on the floor in the band room. He figured this wouldn't be much different than the lunch hours during the school year, and he would sit all alone. Feeling a little ignored, he opened up his lunch bag and found exactly what he was expecting – a peanut butter sandwich. Charlie Brown sighed as he took a bite from it. "Loneliness tastes like a peanut butter sandwich," he often thought to himself. "I guess when you're a dull person like I am, and no one wants to sit with you, this is the kind of thing they give you to eat. Look at the other kids. They are all talking to each other and enjoying non-peanut butter lunches. And look at the Little Red Haired Girl. It looks like she has a ham and cheese sandwich. I guess if you're really something, like the Little Red Haired Girl is, you get to have ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch. Still, I shouldn't complain. Mom works hard at making my lunches. Or, maybe by giving me peanut butter sandwiches, she is nicely trying to say, that I'm dull...."  
  
Charlie Brown's thoughts were interrupted as he saw Woodstock and friends hauling a giant red cooler across the band room. Snoopy followed not far behind.  
  
"Snoopy...how much food did you bring for lunch?" Charlie Brown said, a little exasperated.  
  
"You should never play and march on an empty stomach!" Snoopy thought as they walked past Charlie Brown.  
  
The yellow birds set the cooler down on the floor, and Snoopy eagerly threw open the lid. They emptied the contents of the container and closed it. Snoopy then draped a table cloth over the cooler, to create a makeshift dinner table. Woodstock and friends set the table with dishes and silverware. Snoopy then set the meal's appetizer on the table.  
  
"Shrimp cocktail! Good grief!" Charlie Brown said as watched the scene unfold.  
  
The trumpet section happily gulped down the food. Charlie Brown watched as Snoopy picked up a smaller piece of shrimp, and hurled it towards Woodstock. Woodstock flew up, as best as he could, and caught it in his mouth as it soared in midair. When they had finished all of the shrimp, Snoopy then served a Caesar salad. The birds munched loudly on the lettuce and croutons as they all chattered away in conversation. When the salad was finished, Snoopy served the main course; spaghetti and meatballs!  
  
Charlie Brown looked down at his plain old peanut butter sandwich, and then looked back up at Snoopy and Woodstock and company as they enjoyed a classy meal of spaghetti and meatballs. "And," he thought to himself, "I guess if you're a dog, and your owner is a total wishy-washy blockhead, they feel sorry for you, and you get to have spaghetti and meatballs for lunch." He looked over at Snoopy again. They were now having desert. "Good grief! Don't tell me they brought a whole watermelon!" he said out loud.  
  
"What's the matter, Charlie Brown?" Linus said as he joined him.  
  
"My dog gets a four course meal for lunch, and all I get is a peanut butter sandwich," Charlie Brown responded with a sigh. 


	7. Chapter VII Band Camp! AAUGH! Part 2

Chapter VII – Band Camp! AAUGH!! Part 2  
  
By the middle of the week, all of the students were tired, sore, and very sun burnt. They all had been working very hard at learning the music and the marching drill. Charlie Brown was still struggling to keep in step with the rest of the band, and to remember all of his drill moves. He kept worrying that he would mess up so much that the Little Red Haired Girl would see it, and would think he was a blockhead. He also worried that the Little Red Haired Girl would never notice him, just as she never seemed to notice him while they were in school together. These thoughts occupied Charlie Brown's mind so much that it distracted him from actually learning his music and drill. Because of this, Charlie Brown was quickly becoming frustrated.  
  
"Okay Kid! Take it from the top!" Molly Volley ordered as she directed their mellophone sectional one afternoon. They were gathered in the traditional mellophone sectional area, working on learning "Spanish Nightmare". Charlie Brown had learned much of playing the mellophone, and sounded fairly descent, he thought. He was far from playing BLAT BLAT as he did when he first started. But he was still far from sounding as good as Molly Volley, and far from sounding as good as he needed to in order to impress the Little Red Haired Girl.  
  
Charlie Brown and Molly Volley began playing "Spanish Nightmare". "This is starting to sound pretty good," Charlie Brown thought to himself. The two continued to play in unison, only to be interrupted by a familiar crabby voice. It was Lucy.  
  
"Where is Mr. Dunlap?!?!?" she demanded as she stood with her hands on her hips and tapping her foot on the ground.  
  
Molly Volley, very unhappy with the disruption, looked at her crossly and said, "Even if I did know where Mr. Dunlap was, I wouldn't tell you. Why in the world do you have to come in here and interrupt us? Can't you see that we're working? And shouldn't you be working with your own section anyway? Just because we're the best section in the band doesn't mean that you have to bother us!" Obviously Molly Volley was not going to take any nonsense from Lucy.  
  
"Charlie Brown! Where is Mr. Dunlap? You better tell me!" Lucy demanded again.  
  
"Uh...I really don't know. I haven't seen him since full band." Charlie Brown said innocently.  
  
"Don't you treat my section like that, Lucy Van Pelt!" Molly Volley yelled at Lucy.  
  
"And what's this about the mellophones being the best section in the band? Everybody knows that the mellophones can't possibly be the best section in the band." Lucy retorted.  
  
"And just why is that?" Molly Volley said as she stood up and stomped her foot on the ground.  
  
"Because Charlie Brown is in your section!" Lucy scoffed. She then left the place before Molly Volley had another chance to continue the argument. After she was out of earshot, Molly Volley turned to Charlie Brown and said, "Don't worry Kid. We'll show her!"  
  
"My arm is getting tired, Sir!" Marcie complained as she and Peppermint Patty worked on their music during sectionals. Marcie's symphony of constant cymbal crashing had been rewritten. Now with the exception of a few crashes left intact, Marcie was left to hold the cymbals in front of Peppermint Patty so that she could hit them with the drumsticks. Basically, Marcie had to follow Peppermint Patty where ever she marched on the field. Typical, Peppermint Patty thought to herself.  
  
"Don't worry Marcie. You'll get used to it. This is what band camp is for, so that you can get used to all the weird positions that you have to march in." Peppermint Patty said.  
  
Peppermint Patty lifted her drumsticks and began to count off the music. Peppermint Patty rapped away at her snare drum, but every time she tried to hit the cymbal, Marcie would move it. She stopped to reprimand Marcie.  
  
"Marcie! How in the world do you expect me to play this piece with the cymbal part if you keep on moving it?" She yelled in an irritated tone of voice.  
  
"You almost hit me with the drum stick, Sir!" Marcie said.  
  
"I was not going to hit you, I was going to hit the cymbal. But if you keep on moving it around, I'm gonna hit you on accident or maybe even on purpose!" Peppermint Patty said. "Now...let's try this again!" Peppermint Patty counted off and began to play again. When it came time for her to hit the cymbal, Marcie again moved it out of the way.  
  
"Marcie! What are you doing!?" Peppermint Patty said becoming even more frustrated.  
  
"You almost hit me again, Sir! I wasn't born to be a practice pad, you know..." Marcie said innocently. "Marcie! I am NOT going to hit you! Will you stop being ridiculous! Alright Marcie, lets try this one more time. And this time don't move? Do you understand me?" Peppermint Patty asked.  
  
"YES SIR!" Marcie exclaimed.  
  
"And will you PLEASE quit calling me 'Sir'!" Peppermint Patty ordered.  
  
"YES SIR!" Marcie again shouted.  
  
"AAUGH!!!" Peppermint Patty screamed with frustration.  
  
Peppermint Patty counted off for a third time. As she made her way through the music and approached the cymbal hit, she half expected for Marcie to pull away once again. But this time, she stayed still just as Peppermint Patty had ordered her to. Peppermint Patty smiled, as the piece was finally coming together. Suddenly, they were both interrupted by the same voice that had interrupted the mellophone sectional.  
  
"Where is Mr. Dunlap?" Lucy demanded from the girls.  
  
"I have no idea, Lucille." Peppermint Patty replied. She always called Lucy by her full first name.  
  
"Well I need to find him!" Lucy snapped.  
  
"I'm sorry Lucille, but I told you I don't know where he is!" Peppermint Patty said, trying to keep her patience.  
  
"Maybe you should check the trumpet section, Lucy," Marcie said quietly. "We haven't seen him around here at all."  
  
Lucy left without saying a word but still maintained the crabby expression on her face. She stormed down the hallway of the school and made her way past the band room. She had already checked the band room for Mr. Dunlap, but she decided she should check again, just incase. Upon entering the band room she found the love of her life, Schroeder. Known for being a child prodigy piano player, Mr. Dunlap had given Schroeder a special position in the band. In the area on the sidelines in front of the field, called the pit, Schroeder had his own little setup; an electronic keyboard and an amplifier powered by a small battery. Mr. Dunlap himself had written difficult piano parts especially for Schroeder.  
  
"Oh Schroeder...." Lucy called, immediately hiding her crabbiness as she leaned over on the keyboard. "Schroeder, if a very pretty girl asked you a very important question, would you answer her?"  
  
"I suppose so," Schroeder replied with out stopping his piano playing. "If there were any very pretty girls here."  
  
"Well then Schroeder," Lucy said ignoring the remark, "Would you tell me if you happen to know where Mr. Dunlap is?"  
  
"Nope. Sorry. I haven't seen him around for a while." Schroeder said.  
  
"Are you sure?" Lucy asked.  
  
"I'm positive!" Schroeder said.  
  
Lucy continued to lean on the front of the keyboard for several minutes, which began to annoy Schroeder. "I'm sorry," Schroeder began, "The front of the keyboard has a rental fee of ten dollars a minute. If you wish to lean on the front of the keyboard, you must pay with cash in advance!" Lucy did not move from the spot. He then grew impatient as he waited for Lucy to leave. He turned the volume up all the way and pounded on the keys, sending Lucy tumbling forward.  
  
At that time, the trumpet section was outside working very hard, except for their section leader. The yellow birds played nonstop as Snoopy had fallen asleep on top of the music staff they had created. Before falling asleep he had ordered them not to stop playing, because if they did, he would find out about it very quickly. Woodstock and his friends began to feel very tired as they had been playing continuously for over a half hour. Despite all the noise, Snoopy was fast asleep on top of the music staff.  
  
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!?!? WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING?" A familiar voice screamed. The shouting startled the yellow birds. They all quit playing at once, causing the musical staff to quickly disappear from the air, sending its occupant falling fast to the ground. BONK! Snoopy landed right on his head.  
  
"Hey! I told you birds not to quit playing! Why did you stop?!" Snoopy reprimanded his section before realizing what was actually going on.  
  
"Just what do you think you're doing!?" Lucy chided him. "What do you mean by sleeping during sectionals? Don't you know there's work to do? What kind of section leader are you, you stupid beagle!"  
  
"!!! !!!! !!!!! !!" Woodstock and his friends yelled at Lucy, trying to defend themselves and their section leader.  
  
"Shut up you stupid birds!" Lucy yelled.  
  
"Now, you better tell me. Where is Mr. Dunlap? I need to talk to him NOW!" Lucy demanded from the trumpets.  
  
"!! !!!!! !!!!" Woodstock and his friends told her. "What?" Lucy said, now somewhat confused.  
  
"!! !!!!! !!!!" Woodstock and his friends repeated.  
  
"I don't under....Oh never mind. Why in the world am I trying to talk to a bunch of dumb birds?" Turning to Snoopy she said, "And I'm not even going to try to get an answer out of some stupid beagle!" She said as she stormed away.  
  
"Stupid? I'll have you know I was the Valedictorian of my class at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm!" Snoopy thought to himself. "BLEH!" Snoopy said as he stuck his tongue out at Lucy behind her back. All of the birds followed suit, "BLEH!"  
  
"Where is Mr. Dunlap?!" Lucy demanded as she barged in on the trombone section.  
  
"I don't know," said Linus as he held his trombone in one hand and blanket in the other. "He hasn't been here to help us yet."  
  
"And why must you carry around that stupid blanket? What to you need with a blanket now anyway? Don't you know that its summertime?" Lucy lectured.  
  
"Ah, but this blanket doubles as a sun visor," Linus said as he draped the blanket over a tree branch they were sitting under, creating even more shade for them. "And it's a trombone polishing cloth!" Linus said proudly as he wiped some smudges from the bell of his horn.  
  
Just then a gust of wind picked up and Pig-Pen's cloud of dust suddenly blew in their direction. Linus quickly held up the blanket, using it to block him and Lucy from the incoming cloud of dirt. "It also serves as a shield from scattered sand storms!" Linus whispered to Lucy. At this point she was not interested in anything Linus had to say.  
  
"I don't care about ANY of this! All I want to know is where is our band director? I MUST talk to him!" Lucy shouted.  
  
"I'm sorry Lucy," said Pig-Pen. "But we haven't seen him. Why don't you go ask the drumline? Maybe the have seen him."  
  
"I already DID ask the drumline, and they didn't know anything! I HAVE TO SEE MR. DUNLAP!" Lucy roared.  
  
Lucy was mad now, which was typical for Lucy. She stormed back into the school building, and searched up and down the halls until she finally ran into Mr. Dunlap.  
  
"Mr. Dunlap! I finally found you!" She exclaimed. "We have a problem in the flute section. You see...its...well I guess that.....It's just....sometimes.....well the other day....but....we.....I...um....I....forgot. I FORGOT WHAT THE PROBLEM IS! AAUGH!!!!!" 


	8. Chapter VIII Band Camp! AAUGH! Part 3

Chapter VIII – Band Camp! AAUGH!! Part 3  
  
Snoopy threw his Joe Cool sunglasses down on the ground in frustration as he and the other trumpets scowled at the other sections. The band was working on the drill for the very last song of their show, Spanish Nightmare. They were having some problems. A company front was decided on for the next to the last move, but they just couldn't seem to make a straight line, no matter what.  
  
"Get into the line, you stupid blockheads!" Lucy shouted from down the line.  
  
"Just who are you calling 'stupid blockheads' Lucille?" Peppermint Patty snapped back.  
  
"Everyone who isn't in the right spot! That would mean you too!" Lucy shouted.  
  
"Come on, Lucy," Linus said trying to be the peacemaker, "We're supposed to be guiding to the center of the line. Mr. Dunlap said so."  
  
"I don't care about the people in the center! The people in the middle are WRONG! I marked off and set my spot, so I am RIGHT!" Lucy insisted.  
  
"But Lucy," said Linus calmly, "We have to guide to the center even if they aren't exactly where the drill charts say."  
  
"NO! I am RIGHT! You all guide to me, because I am RIGHT because I set this spot!" Lucy continued to argue.  
  
"You think you have problems?" Frieda joined in, "All this heat and humidity is ruining the curl in my naturally curly hair! And more than that, I can't even breathe because of this big old dust magnet marching next to me!" She added as she pointed to Pig-Pen.  
  
"You know, Mr. Dunlap said that we could use this dust to create something for our general effect score!" Pig-Pen said, trying to defend himself.  
  
"What seems to be all of the trouble?" Charlie Brown asked as he and Molly Volley walked up to the aggravated group of students.  
  
"This whole line is messed up, and I'm the only one in the entire band that is RIGHT!" Lucy complained.  
  
"Actually," explained Charlie Brown, "It's the trumpets. Snoopy especially. Snoopy is the exact center point of the line, so everyone has to follow Snoopy."  
  
"Well then, Snoopy should follow ME because I set this move!" Lucy said. She then turned around and made her way to Snoopy. "Listen here, you stupid beagle!" Lucy shouted as she shook her fist. "If you don't get this move right, I'm gonna come back over here and clobber you? Do you understand me?"  
  
"What's this?" Snoopy thought to himself. "A disgruntled fan? Joe Cool, the world famous bugle player, can not have any disgruntled fans! We must take care of this immediately!" Snoopy then leaned over and kissed Lucy right on the nose. SMACK!  
  
"AAUGH! Dog germs! Dog germs! AAUGH!" Lucy cried as she ran away from Snoopy.  
  
"There goes another happy fan of Joe Cool!" Snoopy thought to himself, grinning.  
  
"Linus!" Lucy shouted, "Give me your blanket!"  
  
"But ...." Linus protested.  
  
"Linus! NOW!" Lucy shouted as she grabbed the blanket away from Linus, and wiped her face off on the blanket. "Dog germs! Yuck! Here you go," Lucy said as she threw the blanket back at Linus. "Now your stupid blanket is infested with dog germs."  
  
"Just what I need," said Linus, "A population inside my blanket."  
  
At this time, Mr. Dunlap decided to run the show from the very beginning, to see how well the students know their music and their drill moves. Things looked reasonably well, until about the middle of the first song. In this part of the drill, there was a move that required the drum line, and the color guard to move in parallel lines, but in opposite directions past each other, with the color guard marching in front of the drum line. They had already successfully done this move several times, how ever this time was going to be different.  
  
Suddenly, everyone heard a cry, "MR. DUNLAP! MR. DUNLAP! HELP! LINUS! BIG BROTHER! I'M STUCK!!! HELP!!!!!!" It was Sally. Somehow, Sally had gotten too close to Shermey's bass drum behind her, and her hair had gotten tangled up in it. Unfortunately, the bass drum was too big for Shermey to see over, so he had no way of knowing that Sally had been caught up on the front of his instrument, and ended up dragging her half way across the field as a result.  
  
"BIG BROTHER!! LINUS!! COME HELP GET ME OUT OF THIS!!" She screamed over the band. Eventually, her screams did cause everyone to stop. But they did not come over to help her. They were all too busy laughing at the sight. Peppermint Patty and Marcie laughed hysterically as they helped untangle Sally's hair from the bass drum. Incredibly embarrassed, Sally walked off the field.  
  
At lunch time that day, Molly Volley joined Charlie Brown. "Listen here, Kid," she said. "We got the sectional poster contest coming up. The section that makes the best poster gets to be first at the water cooler all next week. Now I hope you know that I expect to WIN!"  
  
"Um...ok," said Charlie Brown. "What do we need to do exactly?"  
  
"Here's the deal. We make a poster that gets hung up on the wall in the band room. And not only does it have to look cool, but we have to have a cool sectional slogan as well." She explained. "So start thinking so we can have some good ideas!"  
  
"Let's see..." thought Charlie Brown. He never thought himself as being very creative, but as long as Molly Volley was asking his opinion, he thought that he should at least give it some consideration. He thought back to what his original thoughts were when he first saw his instrument. "A mellophone....but there's nothing mellow looking about it!" He thought to himself.  
  
Charlie Brown then said aloud, "How about...'Mellophone: Nothing mello about it!'"  
  
"Sounds good, Kid! We're gonna WIN!" Molly Volley said.  
  
Later that afternoon all of the instrument sections were together working on their respective posters. Molly Volley and Charlie Brown were working hard on their poster, drawing and coloring in letters and musical notes. When they were finished, it looked perfect.  
  
"Now we gotta get it taped up on the wall," said Molly Volley. Charlie Brown moved a chair over towards the wall, and climbed up on it so that he could put up the poster.  
  
At that same moment, Snoopy and the rest of the trumpets were playing football in the parking lot outside the band room.  
  
"Woodstock! Go out for a long pass!" Snoopy ordered as he threw the football across the parking lot. Unfortunately, Woodstock wasn't very good at catching footballs, or really anything else for that matter. The football hit him square in the head and bounced up into an open window to the band room.  
  
Inside the band room, Marcie and Peppermint Patty were working on painting their drumline poster when all of a sudden SPLASH! the football had come in through the window and landed in a container of water colors that they were using. This sent paint flying in all directions. Marcie and Peppermint Patty looked at each other with total amazement, as they were both covered with green.  
  
"Where in the world did this come from?!" asked Peppermint Patty.  
  
"It came in through the window, Sir. The football team must have lost it. Perhaps we should go and give it back," Marcie said.  
  
"Give it back? No way, Marcie! Just look at this mess. And our poster is ruined. Now we have to start all over again. If they want their football back, let them come and get it themselves!" Peppermint Patty firmly stated.  
  
Just then, Snoopy entered the band room, wondering where his football had ended up. Seeing Peppermint Patty holding it up, he walked over to the two girls and held his hand out for the ball.  
  
"Is this you're football?" Peppermint Patty demanded. Snoopy grinned innocently and nodded. "Well, just look at the mess your football made with our paint!" Peppermint Patty shouted.  
  
Seeing that his brand new football was now covered in green paint, Snoopy frowned and thought, "Well, just look at the mess your paint made of my football!" He was still holding his hands out for the football, expecting Peppermint Patty to give it back to him, but she did not.  
  
"Well, if you want this back so bad, then you'll just have to go and get it yourself!" Peppermint Patty said as she aimlessly tossed it across the band room. Snoopy ran after trying to catch it as it soared through the air. He wasn't paying any attention to where he was going. All of a sudden he ran into something. That something was Charlie Brown, who was still standing on the chair, trying to hang up the poster. "Whoops! Whoops! Whoa!" Charlie Brown shouted as he tried to maintain his balance on the chair after the collusion. Then suddenly, BONK! the football had come down and hit Charlie Brown right on the head. This sent him falling fast to the floor. CRASH!  
  
A few minutes later, Charlie Brown found himself on his back, lying on the floor. The room was spinning.  
  
"Are you okay, Charlie Brown?" Linus asked, who had rushed over to help his friend.  
  
"What...what happened? Where am I? Why is the room spinning?" Charlie Brown asked. He was very confused.  
  
"Snoopy ran into you, and you got hit in the head with a football and fell off the chair." Linus explained.  
  
"Good grief! I don't think I can stand up! I think I need to go lay down for a while," Charlie Brown said.  
  
"Maybe you need to go see a doctor, Charlie Brown." Linus said cautiously.  
  
About an hour later, Charlie Brown found himself waiting in the emergency room at the hospital. "Good grief. I must be the only kid in the world who managed to end up in the emergency room during band camp!" 


	9. Chapter IX Spanish Nightmare

Chapter IX – Spanish Nightmare  
  
Disclaimer: This chapter contains references to the 1980's movie "Leader of the Band"  
  
Charlie Brown soon got over the embarrassment of landing himself in the emergency room during band camp. That was a typical thing to have happen to him, he thought. The weeks of summer were soon over and everyone was soon back in school. With the coming of the autumn also came the football season. This also meant that it would soon be time for the band to start going to competitions.  
  
On the first Friday of the school year, all of the band students were excited. That night would be their very first football game of the season. During lunch, all of the kids were in little groups talking with anticipation of the evening's football game. Charlie Brown was excited too, but he was also a little anxious.  
  
"What's for lunch today, Charlie Brown?" Linus asked as he sat down next to Charlie Brown.  
  
"The same as usual. Peanut butter," Charlie Brown said with a sigh.  
  
"Let's see," Linus said as he looked though his lunch bag. "Carrot sticks, chocolate covered raisins, and an egg salad sandwich. Oh, wait! Here's another note from my mother," Linus said as he took a little piece of paper from the bag. His mother always put a little note in his lunch. "Good luck tonight, make us proud! I can't wait to hear our Little Glenn Miller play with his band tonight. Love, Mom." Linus read aloud.  
  
"Little Glenn Miller?" inquired Charlie Brown.  
  
"Yeah. That's what my family calls me now," Linus explained. "It happened when I first got my trombone. A few days later my grandmother came to our house and she wanted to see it. She said when I wear my glasses and have the trombone in my hands; I look like a miniature version of Glenn Miller. So that's what my family calls me now."  
  
"Good story," said Charlie Brown as he wished that someone famous had played the mellophone. That way, maybe he could have a neat nickname too.  
  
"Are you looking forward to the game tonight, Charlie Brown?" Linus asked enthusiastically.  
  
"I guess so. I'm a little nervous though." Charlie Brown admitted.  
  
"Charlie Brown, you get nervous just making a trip to the water fountain. Just relax! It will be fun, and everything will be fine. You'll see." Linus said to reassure his friend.  
  
"I hope so, Linus." Charlie Brown said doubtfully.  
  
That afternoon, none of the band students could sit still. They were anxiously awaiting the end of the school day. Charlie Brown made the time pass faster for himself by sitting at his desk and admiring the Little Red Haired Girl. Before long it was 3:00 in the afternoon. When the bell rang, the students rushed down to the band room. It was time for the traditional pregame dinner, which consisted of pizza and root beer. The large stack of pizzas that was delivered to the band room quickly disappeared, as it was eaten up by the hungry band students.  
  
"Well men," Snoopy addressed his section, "It doesn't get any better than this; pizza, root beer, and half a dozen bugles!" The trumpet section lifted their root beer glasses and toasted.  
  
"!! !!!?" asked Woodstock.  
  
"No, I don't think so. Not everyone likes bird seed. Especially as a pizza topping." Snoopy replied  
  
"!!!!! !!?"  
  
"Yes, I suppose some vanilla ice cream would taste good in this root beer," Snoopy agreed.  
  
When the traditional pregame dinner was over, the students all sat down in their respective sections to practice before the game. The students were fired up, and the music sounded perfect. They could tell that Mr. Dunlap was pleased with them.  
  
A few hours later the band was lined up on the sidelines ready to take the field for the halftime show. Focused and at attention, the band was ready for their first performance of the season.  
  
"And now, for you're halftime entertainment....the marching band will perform the songs Malaga, Tiger of San Pedro, Santana, and Spanish Nightmare!" The announcer called out over the PA system. Taking a cue from Mr. Dunlap, the band began their show.  
  
Upon hearing the first few bars of the music, the audience became quickly disappointed. Unfortunately, this audience was a football crowd, and did not appreciate the artistic qualities that the halftime show had offer. And because the band had played Spanish music for half time during the past several years, the musically uneducated football crowd did could not tell the difference between one Spanish song and the next.  
  
"Play Free Bird!" Play CCR! Play Bohemian Rhapsody!" the crowd shouted. In addition to not being musically inclined, the football crowd had also tailgated a bit too much, and many of them were under the effects of too much root beer. When the band began to play the song Santana, people in the crowd recognized the song as being either something the band had played before, or something that sounded almost exactly like they had played before. Maybe even both. Rumblings of discussion quickly took place in the crowd. "This sounds familiar," they said to each other. "Did they play this last year?"  
  
Then suddenly someone in the crowd began to chant, "THEY ONLY KNOW ONE SOOONG!!! THEY ONLY KNOW ONE SOOONG!!!"  
  
Soon the whole crowd joined in, "THEY ONLY KNOW ONE SOOONG!!! THEY ONLY KNOW ONE SOOONG!!!"  
  
After Santana was over, the band began to play "Tiger of San Pedro". Someone in the crowd began to chant, "Oh! They know TWO songs!!"  
  
And once again, the crowd soon joined in and everyone was chanting, "Oh! They know TWO songs!! Oh! They know TWO songs!!"  
  
The band knew what was going on around them, and they were quickly becoming frustrated. As they began their last song, "Spanish Nightmare", they didn't think things could get any worse.  
  
"Another Spanish song?!" the football crowd said to one another. "Why ANOTHER Spanish song? What's going on?" They then began to chant, "BOARING!! BOARING!! BOARING!!"  
  
In the middle of Spanish Nightmare, Marcie had a cymbal crash. Unfortunately, after playing this cymbal crash, Marcie lost control of one of her cymbals. It flew from out of her hand and ended up landing halfway across the field. Unfortunately, there was a backwards move at the exact spot where the cymbal landed. Charlie Brown marched backwards and had no way of seeing the cymbal and instantly tripped over it and fell landing right on his back. "AAUGH!!" he shouted as he fell backwards. Because this was a backwards marching move, Molly volley could not see that Charlie Brown was now on the ground, nor could she hear his cry. Charlie Brown could also not move out of the way in time, so she fell backwards on top of Charlie Brown. And then, some trombones fell on top of the mellophones, followed by a couple of clarinets. Before they knew it, there was a pile- up of about six or seven students right on the forty yard line. It was a mess. The football crowd could not believe their eyes. Pileups were supposed to happen during a football game. That was typical. But during halftime? This was something totally different.  
  
When all of this was going on, Snoopy just happened to look in the backfield. He instantly saw what was happening. "Those blockheads! They're ruining our trumpet feature!" He thought to himself. When the fiasco of a halftime show was finally over, the band quietly returned to their seats in the stands. All Mr. Dunlap could do was shake his head. To make things worse, they had to stay for the rest of the game to play music in the stands.  
  
"The 'Chicken Dance' is up now, Kid. Get ready to play!" Molly Volley told Charlie Brown. Taking the cue from Mr. Dunlap, the band began to play. They sounded good and the crowd actually enjoyed the music, and many people were dancing in the stands. The band began to feel a little bit better about the halftime fiasco, now that the football crowd was actually enjoying their music. This lasted only for a few minutes, however. Unfortunately, the students soon saw a confrontation between Mr. Dunlap and the football coaches' wife.  
  
"What's going on, Linus?" Charlie Brown turned around and asked, when they had finished playing.  
  
"It seems that the football coaches' wife is upset with Mr. Dunlap, Charlie Brown." He replied. "Apparently, the football team thought we were making fun of them by playing the 'Chicken Dance' song, and now they're all upset."  
  
"What in the world? But why?" Charlie Brown said as he instantly realized the ridiculousness of the situation.  
  
Mr. Dunlap instantly tried to make amends by picking a different song for the band to play.  
  
"Alright, Kid. Get ready to play 'Call me Al'!" Molly Volley ordered.  
  
Although the band played the music incredibly well, and the football crowed danced and enjoyed the music, this was still not enough satisfy the football team. The crowed began to sing along, only instead of singing "You can call me Al", they "You can call Mr. Sal!" Mr. Sal was the name of one of the football coaches. Even though this was meant in harmless fun, Mr. Sal quickly took offence to this. He immediately glared at Mr. Dunlap and the band, with a look that clearly said, "Stop playing or else!" So once again the band had to quit playing just because of a complaint from the football team.  
  
After one frustrating night, Charlie Brown slowly made his way home. "Why can't things ever be simple for me?" he asked aloud to no one in particular. "We worked so hard and look what happened. Why did I have to be such a blockhead and trip over Marcie's cymbal and cause a huge pileup during half time? I want the band to do well, probably more than anyone else. So why do things keep on going wrong. WHY CAN'T I HAVE A NORMAL BAND EXPERIENCE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE?!?!" He cried.  
  
Charlie Brown then saw Snoopy walking past as he played a Herb Alpert tune on his trumpet.  
  
"And why can't I have a normal dog like everyone else!?!?" 


End file.
